Related fields include hand-held irons for pressing fabric, and more specifically safety features and attachments for such irons.
A hand-held cloth iron consists essentially of a heated soleplate with an insulated handle. The operator grasps the handle and presses or slides the soleplate against a wrinkled fabric article—for example, a garment—to remove the wrinkles. The fabric is normally arranged for ironing on a purpose-built ironing board. Such a board typically has a flat working surface manufactured from sheet metal and covered by a fitted, padded ironing board cover. The padded cover functions as thermal insulation between the ironing board and the high-temperature iron so that heat is not dissipated by conduction through the metal of the board. The cover also fills in any unevenness in the metal surface of the board, providing a smooth and soft surface for the fabric, even if the metal board underneath the pad is honeycombed or otherwise perforated to reduce its weight and allow steam to flow through.
While ironing, the operator must often let go of the iron to reposition or exchange the wrinkled article, to apply starch or iron-on materials, or for some other reasons. If the soleplate of the iron remains in contact with the ironing board cover for too long, sufficient heat will accumulate to scorch, burn or ignite the cover. Furthermore, if the soleplate is accidentally left at rest on the wrinkled article—which can easily occur in a household or backstage environment where interruptions are many and varied—the article, which is typically less heat-resistant than the board cover, can sustain thermal damage in less than a minute.
To avoid such damage, the wider end of most irons, often called the “heel” or “heel rest,” is configured so that the iron can be balanced in an upright position with the soleplate substantially perpendicular to the ironing board surface. In this position, the soleplate delivers almost no heat to the article being ironed or the ironing board cover. To improve the stability of the iron resting on its heel, the soleplate (the heaviest component of the iron) forms a slightly acute angle with the heel rest so that the soleplate is tilted at slightly more than 90° to the board and “leans” on the handle or an extension of the handle or body. Nevertheless, because a standard iron soleplate is still significantly longer than the heel is wide, an iron resting on its heel has a high center of gravity, which makes it vulnerable to tipping if the iron or board is bumped, wobbled, or tilted. Ironing often takes place in close and busy quarters and most modern ironing boards are narrow, lightweight and collapsible; therefore mild to moderate perturbations in the form of bumps, wobbles, or tilting are far from rare.
Because an iron is heavy and pointed at one end, as well as very hot when in use, a falling iron can inflict a variety of injuries on nearby persons or domestic animals, as well as damages to properties. In addition, a steam iron left in its vertical position may tip and leak water from the pores of the soleplate onto an item, thus possibly staining the item. Accordingly, it is desirable to have an iron which will remain more stable in its upright position.
This need for ironing safety has long been recognized and addressed in various ways. For example, many electric irons have automatic shut-off devices that disconnect power from the soleplate heater when the iron has been idle for a fixed period of time, such as 10 minutes. The automatic shut-off cycle saves energy and prevents such accidents as being burned from touching an iron last used hours before and believed to be cold. However, as noted above, many fabrics and other surfaces can sustain thermal damage long before the expiration of the timing cycle if they are in direct, stationary contact with a hot soleplate. On the other hand, reducing the automatic shut-off time enough to avoid such damage would cause the iron to shut itself off almost constantly, prolonging the time to iron a batch of articles and frustrating the operator. Some irons use motion sensors or accelerometers to reset the automatic shut-off timer whenever the user moves the iron. One disadvantage of this type of iron is that it automatically shuts off when held motionless by the user, which is necessary for some operations such as activating fusible-web materials or setting fabric paints. Also, such an iron may not function properly on an uneven surface such as a wool jacket with pockets and cuffs.
Ironing board stability has been improved by widely-spaced and heavy-duty tubular steel legs and non-slip grip feet. Additionally, ironing boards with an iron keeper or holder topped or lined with heat-resistant materials such as high-temperature silicone are commercially available. However, the iron holder usually is positioned far away from the pointed end of the board where clothing must often be positioned to smooth areas near sleeves, legs, and necklines, so that it is inconvenient to use. In addition, the iron holder reduces the ironing surface at the square end of an ironing board, which is useful for pressing the backs of shirts and the like.
There have been many attempts in the prior art to provide iron keepers or holders as part of an ironing board to securely retain an iron on an ironing board in a temporarily unused position. Most of these attempts have been directed toward mechanical means which have required some additional movements, other than normal ironing hand motions, by the user to latch the iron to the ironing board to secure it and unlatch the iron from the ironing board to remove it. Other attempts at the use of magnetic force for iron rests are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,443,780 and 3,599,358 and French Pat. No. 2,724,950. These patents show an ironing board which has a magnet acting as a keeper interacting with a conventional iron. The application of a magnetic plate would clearly create an obstruction to the user and thereby reduce either the area available for ironing or, where the keeper is cantilevered from the edge of the board, the free edge over which fabric may smoothly drape without acquiring more wrinkles. Most of the iron keepers are typically secured in one position on the ironing board, thus requiring the operator to reach for the iron keeper each time the iron is removed or replaced on the keeper. When ironing for a considerable period of time, much time and effort is wasted by these reaching movements. Many cycles of leaning and reaching while holding a heavy iron at arm's length may eventually cause the operator a repetitive-motion injury. When the ironing surface is so large the operator must stretch to reach the iron keeper, even a single unguarded motion may cause a muscle strain or even a fall. Therefore, mechanical or magnetic keepers mounted on ironing boards have not been commercially successful.
Other attempts at iron keepers have been made that do not require the operator to perform the extra motion to always return the iron to the same location. Some irons automatically disengage the soleplate from contact with the article being ironed or the ironing board cover when the iron is not being used. Specifically, U.S. Pat. No. 2,602,247 shows a self-tilting iron incorporating a strong electromagnet to work in conjunction with the ferromagnetic steel board of an ironing board to force the entire iron to tilt away from the ironing board and sit upon the inclined heel rest of the iron when it is not in use, and the magnetic attraction between the iron and the board then secures it against tipping. This attempt of using an electromagnet proved unsatisfactory because of the significant increases in the weight, cost and bulkiness of the iron.
In an effort to improve the heel rest of an electric iron, Perko et al in U.S. Pat. No. 6,321,472 and Hensel et al in U.S. Pat. No. 5,619,812 disclosed an iron with a heel rest having a recess of ˜2.5 mm in the outer surface so that the iron will be less likely to tip over while in its upright position on a soft surface. In such case, as the weight of the iron forces the soft surface downwards, the portion of the soft surface directly underneath the recess moves upward to fill in the recess. As a result, the soft surface in the recess interlocks with the recess in the heel to help prevent the iron from tipping over. Rubber feet are also placed on the heel rest to add stability. However, the improvement with this type of heel rest in preventing tipping is rather miniscule.
Various auto-lifting electric irons with different elevation mechanisms and support means to prevent tipping of the irons are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,546,701, 7,406,783, 6,925,738 and 6,453,587 issued to Alipour, U.S. Pat. No. 6,715,222 to Hecht, and U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,260,295 and 6,105,285 to Nickel. When a sensor indicates that the iron's handle is not being gripped, an elevating mechanism extends support means from the soleplate to lift the soleplate up off the ironing board. When the sensor senses that the handle is being gripped, the mechanism retracts the support means to a position inside the iron. The lifting or elevating mechanism is optimized so that it does not cause the iron to roll over on its side when the iron is laid flat on its soleplate. The iron always remains in a stable horizontal position irrespective whether the iron is in use or not. Unfortunately, the auto-lifting mechanism is mechanically and electrically complex and cumbersome, and it makes an iron much heavier. In a modern iron, the available space is generally taken up by controls for steaming, spraying, and the like and the remaining space is rather unsuitable to house complex mechanisms. Basic functions such as heating up water and soleplate quickly, fast steam generation and no leaking of water, can be easily compromised by the auto-lifting function. Reliability of the moving mechanical parts is also a concern considering the repeated uses of the iron for years. Furthermore, for many users the auto-lift function can be a nuisance unless the user manages to get used to leaving such iron with the heating surface down.
It would, therefore, be highly desirable to provide an iron that is extremely stable against tipping without adding excessive weight, size or complexity, and without requiring operators to learn new methods or perform extra motions. Preferably the iron would also be convenient to use, aesthetically pleasing, inexpensive to manufacture, simple and compact in size, and capable of incorporating popular performance features found in contemporary irons. However, in view of the art considered as a whole at the time of the present invention was made, it was not obvious to those of ordinary skill in this art how to provide an iron meeting all these requirements.